Perseus: Praetor of the 15th Apollinaris Legion
by RevengeRoman
Summary: Perseus Jackson, praetor of the 15th Apollinaris legion, the last of only two legions to survive the fall of Rome, must find a way to stay out of more wars. In desperation, he turns to Olympus to deter any would be attackers, only to get dragged into the Second Titan war. Will he hold to his word and fight one last time in the name of Olympus? or will he turn his back on Olympus? ,
1. Chapter 1

Perseus: Praetor of the 15th Apollinaris Legion (Apollo's 15th Legion)- Chapter 1- Percy POV

"Put your shoulder, hips, and elbows into the thrust! That will maximize the force behind it!" I yelled at the growing class of recruits.

One of the Legionaries raised her hand. "What?" I said, pointing towards her "How do we properly counter it? If it is so powerful?"

I grinned. "Step forward and perform the move on me." She looked awkwardly at Percy before swallowing heavily and doing as he asked, twisting her body and thrusting her sword forward. Percy blocked the thrust easily. "Don't hold back, I can guarantee an Empousai won't." She yelled in defiance this time. Percy sidestepped the thrust, and the girl, expecting an impact, stumbled forward. Percy grabbed her wrist, and pulled her towards him, shouldering her to the ground and ripping her sword out of her grasp in one smooth motion.

She looked up at him gasping for breath after the air was knocked out of her lungs. Percy held a hand out to help her up, but she glared at him and knocked it aside, he had made a fool out of her in front of her peers and she hadn't liked it, she would merit watching, Percy thought.

Percy turned back to the rest of the class as she reclaimed her place in formation. "That is how you counter it, anything you cant block, dodge. Power isn't everything, speed will conquer even the strongest of opponents."

"Recruits are dismissed swordsmanship classes!" I yelled before jogging out of the training field, so the archers could set up and practice.

I walked into my tent and Zoe Nightshade was sitting on my bed. "What are you doing here sister?"

She stood up. "I came here to make sure nobody was hurt when the huntresses of Artemis come to your camp."

I paled. "Their coming here? Do you know the problems that creates. Wait... how did they find out about us?"

She sighed. "I am so sorry Percy, but he threatened to kick me out of the hunt. You know after what happened I couldn't leave them."

"Alright, we're as ready as we'll ever be anyway. It seems Artemis wasn't who we thought though, if she would kick a huntress out just to gain some information."

"It wasn't her idea, it was Zeus'. She heavily opposed the motion by the council."

I just nodded my head, I half expected it to be Zeus rather than Artemis. "Well, go ahead and return to Artemis. I'll make an announcement at muster later."

She started toward the door. "And Zoe?" She stopped and turned around. "Be careful, I don't want Zeus getting any bright ideas." She hesitated for a moment like she wanted to say something, but couldn't get it out, and she turned and left without a comment.

After I left the tent I summoned the legion's signifer, or trumpeter, basically he/she relays commands via a horn, carried on a leather strap around their neck. "Signal muster." He nodded and started playing the short ascending stanza. I kept walking towards the muster field and the slightly raised platform for the Praetors and the Auger.

Legionaries ran around grabbing their armor, I had to wait a few minutes for the last of each cohort to fall in.

"Hi, everybody!" Wow, that was brilliant. Then again, I've never been known for my public speeches. " Todays muster was called to decide what was to be done with the goddess Artemis and her huntresses' when they get here. I would like 1st cohort to expand the tree line to the East. The second cohort will pull down the wall on the East side of the fort and expand it far enough for the proper facilities for Artemis and her huntresses' to conduct their usual routines. That's where the third cohort will come in, they will construct an archery range for them, and two barracks capable of comfortably holding 25 huntresses' each. Centurion's meet with the legions chief engineer later for your assignments and if that's all?" I looked at the centurions. "Inspection!"

The legionaries groaned as the centurions grinned and started inspecting every legionaries piece of armor and sword for rust and made sure that all their equipment was accounted for.

Once inspection was complete each centurion handed me a sheet of paper with a list of legionaries who's equipment was not properly cared for or who had lost their equipment. "Take these lists to the arms master and have the legionaries who's equipment was lost perform a month of K.P. duty."

–- Time Skip- To Artemis' Arrival Percy POV

"Lady Artemis, we have quarters prepared for you," I said with a slight bow. "and your huntresses." She raised an eyebrow. "We don't need your accommodations we have our own tents." My initial respectful smile faded. "Listen here godling, my legion spent the last three days preparing brick and mortar barracks for you. You may be a goddess, but there are well over 500 legionaries standing out in the heat in full armor, practically baking, just to please you. So deal with the barracks even though they may not be as comfortable as Olympus' halls." When I finished, my voice was deceptively calm, I was about ready to throttle the petty goddess. Who does she think she is coming to my camp, forcing my legion to do something that not one of them had any inclination to do, and then just brush off our help like we aren't worth her time.

"Boy, I am a goddess you **will** bow to me I will turn you into a jackelope and let my huntresses hunt you down." Her face was red with anger. "I would watch my tongue if I were you goddess, even with your huntresses fighting with you, you wouldn't last long against my legion. We bow to no gods, the only reason you haven't been captured and imprisoned is because I have no desire to fight another pantheon of gods. I've already lost too many of my men to the likes of you." A tear dropped from my eye and I quickly wiped it away.

"What if we don't want an alliance with you?" Artemis spat. "We will leave you alone as long as you leave us alone. But should you want an alliance with us, I am willing to swear the loyalty of myself and the legion to Olympus, but nothing else."

Artemis' eyes widened, no demigod or mortal had talked to her so disrespectfully before, and she decided that this demigod would have to die sooner or later. "And if we don't leave you alone?"

Percy's eyes hardened and his jaw set. "Then we will topple Olympus as we did the Celts and the Germans." Percy stood there for a moment, there was nothing more to be said. "Consider our offer, if you attack... Pray we show mercy." Then he turned and walked away froma very annoyed, glaring goddess.


	2. Council Meeting

Chapter 2- Negotiations

**(A/N)- I hadn't realized how much of this story I'd actually written, I have enough for at least one more chapter from previously written material, possibly two. I'll try two get the next chapter up by Wednesday morning. And before I forget, shout-out to PixelUp for being the first reviewer **

**PixelUp- Yes, in this story Zoe and Percy are siblings.**

As much as Artemis doesn't like the rogue Praetor, from what she could tell almost all of them were sons or daughters of Greek or Roman gods and they were well trained. Plus, what if what Perseus said was true? Had they actually destroyed two other pantheons?

She couldn't take that chance. If they were as powerful as he says they are, then declining their offer of an peace would be like signing their own death warrant. They were even willing to pledge loyalty to Olympus. She would bring the news to Olympus, that was the only safe thing to do.

–-Later Still Artemis POV

"Daughter, what news do you bring about he demigod camp?" Zeus was alone on his throne. "Father, call a meeting right now, we all need to hear this." Zeus nodded his head in assent and shot a bolt of lightning into the sky, illuminating the throne room in a brilliant blue light. Shortly after, about a dozen flashes of light signified the entrance of the other Olympians.

Artemis started. "Perseus and his 15th legion are very powerful. They claim to have destroyed two other pantheons. Perseus, their Praetor, offers us an alliance, they will pledge loyalty to Olympus, and in return we will help keep them out of more wars with other pantheons."

Ares broke in. "We can take them I'd bet, we have more demigods than all the other pantheons combined!"

"That just shows..." Apollo cut Artemis off. "Hang on a second here, your talking about my legion? They were massacred centuries ago! They shouldn't even be alive!" A dozen heads swiveled in his direction. Noticing the looks of confusion on their faces, he explained. "They were surrounded by the Persians and laid siege to, in the end there was not a man left standing... The visions! Good gods, I can't believe it, Father? Do you remember me telling you about my visions earlier? I think a few of the legionaries escaped. That's the only explanation."

Zeus interjected before Apollo could continue. "So your telling me, that a legion thats been around since the foundation of Rome itself, has escaped the gaze of Olympus for centuries?!" Apollo nodded uncomprehendingly. "And that they've destroyed two other pantheons?" Apollo again nodded his head in affirmation. "They cannot live, no mortal should be able to hide from the gods, you will order a quest to destroy these, would be warriors..." Artemis interrupted. "Father, bear in mind that they have the number advantage, and their warriors have far superior training than the campers at Camp Half-Blood. We might survive for a little while, but from what I saw for the short time I was there, I have no doubt that we would ultimately fall. They would be more useful to us as allies than as enemies."

There was a collective intake of breath as the rest of the Olympians realized the importance of the words she spoke. "And besides that we will be caught between a war with Kronos and a war with Perseus, and at this point, I'm not sure which I would prefer, if either." The, reaching a decision, she turned to address the rest of the Olympians, knowing she would have an easier time convincing them, than she would Zeus. "We should put it to a vote, is this not a council of the GODS!" The rest of the Olympians seemed to realize what she was saying, they were blindly letting Zeus decide their future, and one by one each Olympian started to nod his or her head in affirmation. They wanted to have a say in their own future and Artemis was giving them opportunity to do so.

Zeus eyed his daughter wearily, he had no choice but to put it to a vote, he didn't really have the right to make the decision of going to war, that was suppose to be a council decision. "We will put it to a vote, 2 days from now, until then, Artemis go back to Perseus' camp and gather information on him and his legion, anything you deem useful, then report back to me. Now if that is all?" He looked at the rest of the Olympians one by one to see if any of them had anything to report, then after realizing that they had since lost interest, he shot another bolt of lightning into the air. "Council dismissed!"

And with a few whoops and hollers the rest of the council disappeared.

–- Line Break: Back at Camp

I entered Perseus' tent, and was about to speak until he cut me off. "Do you goddess' ever knock? I could've been half-dressed in here for all you knew!" Percy was massively ticked off at the arrogance of this goddess'.

Artemis was up hauled by the way Percy openly chastised her, that was simply not the way you talked to an immortal. "We're having a meeting two days from now, there we'll decide whether to accept your proposal or to decline and declare war. Until then, I have been tasked to stay with your legion and to assign them a task, for example to hunt down and destroy a small group of monsters about a mile and a half south of here."

Perseus dropped the report he had begun to read, and looked at Artemis. "How stupid do you think we are? I'm not lifting a finger to help Olympus until I have a guarantee that they will ally themselves with us. I will not get my people killed, just for a 'maybe'. You either want to be allies with us or you don't. Make a choice, if you want our help, our blood, then you need to help us first. And I **really** won't help you, if there's even a slight chance that this could result in war for my legion.

"Boy, if I weren't in the middle of a camp full of your demigods, I would have killed you a long time ago." Artemis was seething, she was obviously used to getting things her way, and this was not getting things her way. Perseus grinned. "That's exactly why your in my camp, and I'm not in yours."


	3. Forcing Percy's Hand

Chapter 3- The Siege

**(A/N)- HAHAHAHA! You guys will have fun with this one! Good luck...**

**Oh, yeah, and until now I hadn't really decided where to go with this story, but now I know and because I haven't made any references to the time period in which this takes place, I'll tell you here, think Renaissance, after the collapse of the Ancient Roman Empire, but in this version, the PJO time-line is the third war against Kronos, so this is the second war against Kronos. If you don't understand how I described it, leave a review with your questions and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability over the next few chapters.**

Perseus had just gotten done giving the last swordsmanship class for the day and had entered his tent to relax for a little bit. By this time it was well after dark and the only people roaming the streets of camp were the sentries that were posted each night.

He sat in a campaigning chair that accompanied a small work desk that was piled high with papers. He sighed, it would be another long night of filling out paper work and approving orders for the next days movement. The legion had to move every few days to avoid attracting large amounts of monsters, but unfortunately for Percy it also attracted something else, large amounts of paper work...

He picked up the document that was sitting on top of the pile and leaned back in his chair, listening to the rhythmic pounding of the feet of the sentry who was posted outside his tent as he read through the first paragraph of the report from the Legion Trainer. The report was about the girl who he had used to demonstrate the idea of evading an opponents attack to the 3rd year cadets earlier in the week. Apparently the girl, Ariana, had been causing problems. She had been stealing other legionaries equipment to get them in trouble with the Arms Master, getting into fights, and just generally causing a bunch of headaches for her cohorts Centurion.

'This girl needed to be talked to at some point' Percy thought.

Then he heard the guard outside stop for a moment and call a challenge, then after a few moments of heated discussion with someone outside the tent he opened the tent flap and stepped in. "Perseus, there is someone out here who claims to be your sister." Percy stood up and told the Centurion, who's name was Luna, to let her inside. The Centurion, always a stickler for protocol, bowed, and left.

Percy rolled his eyes as the Centurion turned to leave, he would have to have a discussion with his Senior Centurions about the constant bowing, it was a waste of time and he didn't want to be bowed to, especially by people who had, in the past, saved his life several times.

Just as he finished his thought, Zoe, his sister entered the tent. "Don't you have better things to do at this time of night Zoe?" She snorted. "With the amount of paper work you've got on your desk I doubt you'll mind much." Percy laughed. "Why are you here?" Her attitude turned serious. "I talked to Lady Artemis, she doesn't like you one bit, why do you have to screw with everyone you meet?"

"I was not messing with her, I'm doing everything I can right now to consolidate an alliance with Olympus. But I can't do that if I don't make it known that I could be just as great of an enemy as I could be a friend."

"Well, right now, she is the most vocal supporter of gaining an alliance with you. Not because she likes you or because she thinks this would help them win the war against Kronos, but because she fears you." Percy paled. "Their going to war with Kronos?" He asked disbelievingly. "Yes, Zeus won't admit it, but everyone knows it." Percy cursed loudly. "The whole reason I wanted to ally myself with them was to avoid entering another war!" He was silent for several minutes, seething over this new bit of information. Zoe just left him be for the next few minutes, knowing that trying to reason with him while he was angry, was like poking Zeus, he could explode at any moment.

Then after a few minutes of seething, he finally calmed down enough to think straight. "I'm just going to have to..."

Zoe looked at him questioningly. "What?" He looked at her . "The sentry, I can't hear him doing his route." She laughed. "They just must be changing over the sentries." He shook his head. "The sentries change over at 3 hour intervals starting at 6:00 P.M. It's 11 P.M. The sentries shouldn't change over for another hour." Percy drew his gladius from a scabbard that was always at his waist. Then, drawing back the tent flap, he peered outside.

What he saw made him sick to his stomach, the sentry was laying face down in a pool of his own blood. He had setup the sentry roster for this night, and had known the sentry who was posted here well, her name was Luna, she had been in the legion since before Percy could remember and now she was dead.

Percy shook himself out of the trance he was in, he could mourn her death later, right now he needed to deal with whoever had killed her. He carefully looked to his left and right, noticing several other sentries laying ominously still. Then, after determining that the coast was clear he stepped outside.

Just as he stepped outside he heard the soft scraping of steel on leather, and had just enough time spin and deflect a large battle-Axe to the side before he was split in half. Before his attacker could launch another attack, a short knife from inside the tent stabbed through his stomach and only the point showed through the massively built Germans body.

Once he had dispatched the man, he spun around on instinct to meet the sword of another attacker, only to realize he knew who his attacker was.

"Samuel?" Percy said in disbelief. Samuel laughed. "Hello brother..."


	4. My Brother Is A Nut Case

Chapter 4- My Brother Is A Nut Case

"Sam,what are you doing?" Percy asked, puzzled by the sudden appearance of his brother. "Perce, don't you see? I'm here to put you on the right path, to help you, like I used to do when we were little. Rome has fallen, and there are far greater opportunities than serving an empire that needs you no more than it supports you. Or gods that toss you aside once their done using you." He sheathed his sword, and considering that there were two Germanic ax-men ready to brain him if he made a wrong move, he was safe from Percy, and Zoe's blades.

Percy saw the action and frowned, he was in the middle of a camp full of legionaries that, should they awaken, would easily dispatch the half dozen ax-men that accompanied him. At least, he was assuming that there were more ax-men, only two would hardly buy him enough time to escape, should the legion discover their presence. "So what's your sales pitch? Wealth? Land? Power? Well, I don't want it. Leave and I will spare your life."

"Well, Percy, all I can say is, if your not with me, your against me. I hate to fight against my own brother, but your leaving me no choice." He smiled a cold smile. "I have an army surrounding this camp, you might last a little while, a week, possibly even a month, if you played it right, but no matter, you won't survive forever." He paused for a moment to glance around him, making sure he was unobserved. "Why don't we step into your tent? There's no point in standing out here, where anyone who, just so happened to walk by, could observe our, conversation. He said gesturing towards the legion command tent. Percy laughed , trying to throw off Sam's easiness. "Not that it'll matter, you've made a right mess of things out here." Sam's cold smile faltered briefly. "Regardless..." He said, again gesturing to the entrance of the tent. Percy shrugged and started towards the tent.

As he entered, he immediately made note of how much time was left until the sentries were set to be replaced. 40 minutes, that's how long he would have to keep Sam's attention. He made his way over to the campaigning chair that served as his desk chair, and sat down as Zoe, Sam, and the two ax-men quickly followed.

"You know, serving Kronos certainly does have its advantages, I can screw with my idiot brother all I want, and I get to relax. Do you know how hard it is to relax when monsters are constantly chasing you?" He said questioningly. "No, of course you don't. You were born into the legion. Father gave you everything you wanted, a new gladius, yes! A new horse, absolutely! But he never gave any of those things to me, did he? No! I had to fight for everything I had, and then when he finally did give me something, it was a single, unadorned, rusty, gladius." He was pacing around the room at this point. "Once I left, I had to fight around the clock, if I wasn't fighting monsters, I was fighting in the arena. I didn't have a choice, Father only gave me enough coin to last through that week, so I had to earn money somehow."

"I seem to remember doing my own share of fighting at the time big brother. I also seem to remember you getting your fair share of horses and armor. You are being a spoiled brat, where is my big brother, the person I always looked up to? Always wanted to be? Surrender now and I will find a way to pardon you, I swear."

Samuel shook his head slowly. "That person is gone, I am in control of my future now, not the Fates, not the gods, not even Father. And I will rule the world. Not even Kronos himself will be able to stand against my armies!"

Percy looked at his brother sadly. "Then you are no brother of mine. Leave, there is nothing more for us to discuss. You wage your war, I'll wage mine, and may the best man win."

Just as Percy finished, a hunting horn sounded, as he was to find out later, one of Artemis' huntresses had left their barracks and had found the two huntresses that guarded their barracks dead.

Sam faked looking at a watch and said. "That's my cue!" And signaling his ax-men to follow him, he left the tent and made his escape.

Percy didn't bother following them, he knew they would be gone.

A few moments later a centurion entered the tent, sword drawn. "Are you alright, sir?" Percy nodded. "Focus on securing the walls, we, as of now, are at war." The centurion nodded, and turned to leave, just about colliding with a courier on his way in. "Sir, Senior Centurion Aero requests your presence at the armory and he says it's urgent." Percy frowned, why would he be needed at the armory? The most important thing at the armory is... He cursed loudly. "Come on Zoe, we need to get there **now**!" Percy was already out the door by the time Zoe had reacted to his commands.

–-At the Armory

When they arrived at the armory, there were two Primus Pilus standing guard over the front door, which, after closer inspection, had been kicked in. They stood aside as he approached the door, but blocked Zoe's entrance. "She's with me." The guards looked mildly surprised, but followed their Praetors orders, allowing her access.

After weaving their way through dozens of racks of swords, spears, armor, and other assorted weapons, until they arrived at the vault.

The vault was where the legion kept all of it's mortal money, pay chest for paying the legionaries, and the legion standards. Only someone of Senior Centurion rank or higher could gain access to it, and only the Praetor could grant the use of it's contents.

The most important thing that the Vault contained, was the legions Eagle Standard. If the legions Eagle Standard was lost in battle, the Emperor would decimate the legion. During a decimation, one legionary out of every ten were sentenced to death, and were beaten to death by their fellow legionaries.

Aero was waiting at the entrance of the Vault. "Percy, the Eagle is gone." Those words were words no Praetor wanted to hear. Percy couldn't decimate his legion, especially since they were about to go to war, but even if he could, he wouldn't. He had known most of these men all his life, most had even saved his life in the past. That didn't mean though that losing the Eagle Standard wasn't bad, in fact though, Percy's life is about to get ten times worse...

**(A/N)- So yeah, Percy's brother is a nut job, the legion's eagle is missing, they are being sieged by an army made up of the demigods who's parents they dethroned, the gods are unlikely to help him anytime soon, and what does Percy do? Find out in the next chapter.**


	5. Author's Note

Authors Note-

Hi everybody, I have an offer for you:

If you can give me 15 total reviews by Sunday evening, I'll post an extra long chapter. And I'm not talking about 1,500 words instead of the usual 1,000. I'm talking like 3,000 words.

Fidêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas

-RR


	6. The First Week Of The Siege

Chapter 5- The First Week Of The Siege

**(A/N)-Just so you guys know, and because I received a review about this, I didn't make reviewing a requirement for me to post. I will post regardless of whether or not you review, I'm here to learn and to get better at writing, now that that is out of the way on to Review Corner!:**

** : I know right! That made me laugh so hard my stomach hurt!**

**-Rider-84: Percy is immortal, and he is immortal in the same way as a huntress, just not for the same reason, Zoe is immortal because she is a huntress, Percy is immortal because he is Praetor of the legion.**

**-Kilo1999: As I said above, no.**

**-Blackholelord: I consider reviews as a way for readers to communicate with the author about their concerns, questions, or just to offer advice. I did not force anyone to review, they did it on their own accord, please keep that in mind in the future. I also didn't say that the chapter was 'better' I just said it would be longer.**

"Okay, so here's the situation. Initial reports say that there are 1,500 Germanic warriors, and another 900 Celtic warriors, together, that's almost 2,500 men to face with, at most, 750, field ready legionaries, maybe 850 if we add the first year cadets in there. But those are just our first reports, the eagles say that there are more, smaller bands of warriors coming in from the North, we believe they may be Nordic warriors, but we're not sure." Percy took a moment to scan the faces of his two Senior Centurions, Aero, and Alexis, both had served as legionaries for a combined 19 years and as Centurions for a further 11 years. In other words, they had seen a lot of bad situations, and they both agreed, this was the worst yet.

"At this rate, their numbers will swell to well over 3,500 by the end of the week, and by the end of the month, it's not impossible that we could be looking at ten or eleven to one odds." The faces of the two Centurions darkened at his words. No legion had ever survived those odds, and especially not a seriously understrength legion.

Even if Perseus called in all of his favors, and invoked all of the legions allies for help, he might have been able to field 1,200 legionaries, but that was given time. And time was a commodity he did not have a lot of.

"From what we can tell, they have rudimentary artillery, and little sieging skill. But, regardless, it doesn't take much to sit and wait while your opponent starves does it? Now the question is, ladies and gentlemen, what do we do about it?"

"I might have a few ideas." The three senior officers of the legion turned to look at the newcomer. "Artemis, I half-expected you to have packed and left by now. Why are you still here? This is not Olympus' war." Percy said, mildly surprised as to the appearance of the goddess.

"Two of my huntresses throats were slit, that makes it my war." She said angrily. Percy raised his hands in a conciliatory gesture. "I wasn't declining your help, I just didn't think you goddesses gave a fig when a mortal dies." She stepped forward and punched him in the stomach. "Watch what you say Perseus, or you may find that one day your missing a few pieces of you and you have a few more enemies to deal with."

At this point, both Centurions had their swords drawn and Zoe, who had accompanied Artemis to the meeting, had her bow out and an arrow on the string.

After several moments of coughing and sucking in air, Percy managed to stand again. "Enough! Our enemy is at our doorstep and here we are arguing like children. Artemis, I'll take any help you can give me. Just know that if you stay here, then you will follow my orders without question, do I make myself clear?"

She nodded, she didn't care anymore, all she wanted was to see whoever was responsible for her huntresses deaths, head on a spear. "We can't out last them, they have a continuous supply of food, right?"

Percy nodded. "Pretty soon we won't be able to out fight them, because of their numbers, right?" Again, Percy nodded. "Then we need to reverse the situation." Percy frowned, he couldn't see how this was helping. "So what's your point?" She reached over and grabbed his hand, then Zoe's and Zoe grabbed Aero's, then Aero, catching on to what she wanted, took Alexis' hand. Then, once everyone was holding hands, Artemis teleported them to hill they had never seen before. Then Artemis let go of Percy, and Zoe's hands and turned around. "In two weeks a full moon will appear. With the extra energy it provides, I can teleport your legion from the camp, down there, to the hills surrounding it." She said pointing to the hills surrounding the Legions camp.

"Not to put the crapper on your plan, but how exactly are my 800 odd legionaries going to cover all of this?" He said, making the same gesture she had made a moment ago.

She thought for a moment. "If you call in some favors and get the 1,200 head count you were talking about earlier, I have a few favors and some friends to call on to cover the rest."

–- Time Skip to Funeral for Dead Sentries

Percy hated funerals. He wanted to say goodbye to his soldiers, but in private where he could shed a few tears in their name. Not in front of hundreds of men and women in fancy armor and with a big fancy ceremony. But it was the Praetors job to bless the dead soldiers before they were cremated on a funeral pyre.

Percy donned his ceremonial armor, and left his tent. On the way out he motioned for the legions signifer to follow him.

Once he was at the muster field he turned to face the signifer and said. "Sound muster, let's get this over with." He sighed, as the legionaries ran around camp struggling into their armor and cursing when they found out that some of it had rust forming on it, or had been damaged during the swordsmanship classes and hadn't been repaired yet.

After a few minutes of waiting, the legion was assembled, and close to 1,000 eyes were staring at Percy waiting for him to start.

"All of these men," He started gesturing to the bodies wrapped in ceremonial clothe that was themed as to their godly parentage. " have saved my life, with theirs. They paid the ultimate price, for the people they loved, and the life they loved." He paused again to let the words sink in. " And I ask you now, to do the impossible... To fight and possibly die to protect their loved ones, as well as yours. I will tell you the truth, the rumors that the eagle has been stolen are true." There was murmuring in the assembled legionaries. " Do you want the eagle back?!" There was a roar of assent. "Will you protect, those that protected you?!" Another roar. "Then will you fight for me?!" This was the largest roar of all, they loved him. Most of them had trained under him since they were able to walk and lift a sword. It was the price they paid to have the freedom they had.

"We are surrounded. Cut off from supply, from food, water, and iron. But we are working on a plan that will surround them! And cut them off from supply! And then we will have our eagle, and our freedom!"

" Now, second cohort finish the ceremony, everyone else... Prepare for war..."

After muster, the legion was a flurry of activity. You could hear the blacksmiths from anywhere in the camp, making the spears and swords they were sure to need in the days to come. Everywhere you looked you could see legionaries sharpening swords, spears, and tools, repairing their armor, gathering water to store in case their water supply were to become contaminated, practicing with their powers and with their weapons. All in all, it was the scene of war. Not a single legionary was standing still, not only did they not want to let their Praetor down, but they didn't want to let down the sentries who were so mercilessly murdered.

Artemis and her huntresses were used as messengers, carrying messages to Percy and Artemis' allies outside of the camp. The legions battlefield messengers were not too pleased to learn that they were being replaced by a bunch of girls in silver. But the huntresses could out run, out think, or out fight, just about any party of men sent after them, had Percy sent his own messengers it is more likely that they would have been slaughtered the minute they left the front gate.

Percy and Artemis made routine trips to the hills surrounding the camp, where they had been secretly setting up fortifications. Digging trenches, building earthen walls, doing everything they could without being discovered, and they weren't, until late Wednesday of that week.

Line Break-

Aero Callahan, Senior Centurion of the 15th Apollinaris legion had been overseeing the construction of fortifications all day. It was boring work, but it needed to be done.

He had just finished talking to one of the engineers in charge of the project, when one of the messengers from camp, now serving as early warning for the legionaries working on the hills, came running up to him. He was completely out of breathe and his right thigh was bleeding from a sword cut. "Sir, there is a party of men coming up the hill. Two of our men were caught before we even realized they were there!"

"Calm down, tell me, how many were there?" Aero could see that the legionary could use a rest. After a few minutes of sucking in air, he answered. "There were only maybe 15-20, from what I saw, and that wasn't much, they were only armed with swords, and a few had spears." Aero frowned, this was unusual, Celtic warriors generally used spears as their primary weapon, the fact that this party was primarily armed with swords was surprising in the least.

He thought for a moment, he wouldn't have time to report back to Percy and have him decide what to do, he would have to make a decision on a course of action himself. Basically, he had three options, he could run and risk the discovery of the fortifications and ruin Percy and Artemis' plan, he could conceal the fortifications and hide, which would have the same affect as running, or he could set an ambush for the party of men and try to kill all of them. The problem with that plan though was that if even one of the warriors got away, he would pass the word that they were up here, and that would be even worse than them discovering the fortifications.

Then he decided, the best course of action would be to try to eliminate the party of men. "Go get some rest legionary, the rest of you! Conceal the fortifications and prepare for battle, those of you who can shoot, grab your bows and get in the trees above the trail. Fire two volleys then join the melee, everyone else, draw your swords and start hacking once the two volleys have taken a few of them. We can't leave even one of them alive, if you see them try to retreat, you have my leave to chase them down, but don't go after one alone, bring a few of your friends with you, I don't want you getting killed out there!"

The legionaries, having heard his instructions, started putting dead brush, and soil over the fortifications, then retreating into the tree-line beside the trail that lead up the hill, they lie in wait.

It wasn't long before the group of men arrived at the ambush site. They were in two columns alongside each other in the middle of the trail, one of the men in the front, who was evidently the leader, was calling the step. They were only wearing sheepskin vests and leather trousers, even their feet were bare. They also had blue paint all over their body, in seemingly random swirls and lines. These men were Picts, the fierce fighting men from Northern Britannia, and they were painted for war.

The skilled leader of the Picts, Drest, was not only calling an even time, but looking for the tracks of the scout he had seen earlier. He frowned, there was a lot of activity here, more than any one man could have managed. He must have stumbled onto the camp of the scout, and he must have had a lot more friends, the camp, from what he could tell, could have held up to 80 men. Then he had a stab of fear, it didn't show on the outside of course, a true Pictish King would never show his emotions to his men, especially during times of war, but if there had been that many men, then where did they go? Surely they didn't run away, there were a lot more of them than there were of he and his group.

Then he made a decision, he would turn back, if there were that many men on this hill, then it would be best to retreat now and come back later. He was about to issue his decision to his men and turn around when his fears became well founded.

–-Line Break

Aero waited patiently for the Pictish warriors to arrive in the ambush zone. When the leader of the Pictish warriors stopped them with a hand signal and was looking at the ground and frowning, Aero cursed in his head, the leader of this group knew a bit about what he was doing, he had seen the inevitable signs of their camp that they left behind, and knew that they were somewhere nearby, then he paled slightly and turned around to issue an order, that's when Aero decided that he had waited long enough, and called "Now!" To the men in the trees.

The two volleys of arrows didn't have as much effect as they could have, the enemy warriors were not completely in the ambush zone, and thus, some of the archers did not have a clear shot or the range to fire, but those that did caused absolute mayhem in the Pictish ranks.

As soon as the two initial volleys were shot, there was a roar from the tree-line on either side of the trail as 60 legionaries surrounded the surprised and outnumbered Picts. It was over in seconds and none of the Picts could escape.

After seeing the heavily armed and armored legionaries, seemingly materialize out of the forest, most of the Picts threw down their weapons and surrendered. Those that did try to fight were swiftly dispatched by the skilled swordsman of the legion.

One of the legionaries who knew parts of the Pictish language, asked them who their leader was.

A Pict who was maybe in his mid-thirties stepped forward and said something in the rough Pictish language. The legionary frowned for a moment trying to decipher the words, then having decided that his translation was accurate, turned to Aero. "He says he is Drest, King of the Picts." Aero smiled, his decision had been a good one, he hadn't lost a single legionary, he had captured the Pictish King and kept the secrecy of the fortifications all in one swift move, Percy would be glad to learn of this.

"Someone Iris message Percy, we have prisoners to take with us back to camp, until then, set up a watch on the prisoners, and make sure to bind them well, Picts are notorious for getting out of bonds." Some of the legionaries set to the tasks that Aero had listed and the rest, without motivation, began uncovering and working on the fortifications again.

–-Line Break

Back at camp, Percy also had issues to deal with, he had received word from some of his allies, and they could get troops to him, but not in time to take part in the fighting. He was frustrated, his allies were sitting under the shade of his legion's protection and then, when he needed them to help him, they were unprepared.

He made his way to Artemis' tent, she was currently the only other ranking leader in camp, his two Senior Centurions were out overseeing the construction of fortifications on the hills. He knocked on the door and waited, after a few moments of waiting, a huntress opened the door and let him in.

He almost tripped on the bottom of the door frame, the huntresses had raised it just for that purpose, anyone who did not know to look out for it, tripped, and that could alert them to the presence of an intruder. Once inside the huntresses barracks, he made his way to the back of the two room building. The layout of the barracks was set up in such a way that all of the huntresses had their own private areas, but the whole group could fit in the one big room. Then the second room was used as a sleeping quarters for Artemis, as well as a meeting room for her and her huntresses.

"My allies can't get troops here until 2 days after the planned battle." He sighed, he hated feeling like he had let someone down, especially in the current circumstances.

"That's alright," Artemis said. "I think we'll be able to hold when my reinforcements arrive."

Percy sighed with relief, the fact that his allies wouldn't be able to help, wouldn't be such a big issue.

Just at that moment, the legionary Aero had Iris message Percy, had called. "Sir, Centurion Aero has captured some interesting prisoners, he needs them to be brought back to camp as soon as possible." Percy frowned. "Prisoners? Where the blazes did Aero get prisoners?" The legionary grinned. "We ambushed them, I don't really know much past him saying they were very interesting, and that they were very valuable." Percy smiled. "Well, bring'em on back, I'll have Artemis go out and collect you and bring you in, the next shift is due out there anyway." With that the legionary swiped through the message.

**Because of the massive response I got last time. (By the way THANK YOU!) I'm going to set another goal for my readers, 50 more reviews by this Friday, and another chapter like this one will go up. Also, keep in mind that I am still going to try to post about every other day, with a few days in between as well that I will post, I hope you will appreciate the massive amount of work that goes into posting almost daily. Thank You!**

**Fidêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas**

**-RR**


	7. Author's Note 2

Author's Note

I'm sorry guys, life has been really busy the last few days and I haven't been able to update. After that 3k chapter I got a serious case of writers block as to what Percy and Zoe do with Drest and his lot. I'm thinking what I'll do is I'll start posting once a week, but instead of a 1k chapter, I'll post a 3-5k chapter. That'll give me more time to think it through and get you guys some better content, 'till I update next I'll put a poll on my profile so you guys can have a say in what the pairing in this story will be, I haven't decided yet, but I'm leaning towards Pertemis.

Other than that, I want to say that I'm looking for a Beta Reader for this story. PM me if you want to be the beta reader, I'm looking for someone to help with my grammar, and to just basically help not look like such a noob at writing.

Fidêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas

-RR


	8. My Friend The Pict

Chapter 6- My New Pictish Friend

"Oh my gods, you said they were Picts?" Aero nodded, he had just returned from the hill and had given a report to Percy. "Yeah, not only that, but we caught there king." Percy's eyes hardened and his jaw set. "Bring the one who says he is their king to me." The way Percy said it surprised Aero. Percy wasn't one to be harsh, but this certainly came out that way.

Aero immediately left to go get the Pictish King, Drest. As soon as Aero left, Percy sent word for Artemis and Zoe. They would need to be here, if they weren't, Percy may well kill the Pict.

Artemis and Zoe entered the tent almost immediately before Aero, a few legionaries, and Drest entered. Aero, upon seeing the look in Percy's eyes, shuddered and felt sorry for the Pict, for a moment, but only for a moment, this particular Pict had broken a young legionaries leg trying to escape.

For Percy, before the incident, breaking a legionaries leg to escape, in and of itself would have been punishable by death, but now, this Pict could suffer something a lot worse than death.

"Are you Drest? King of Picta?" Percy didn't care about niceties at this point, he only cared about revenge. His family had been massacred by the people this man leads, and he would rather die than to let him live to see the light of another day. His fists clenched as he awaited a response.

The Pict, for his part, noticed the anger in the young mans eyes and looked for a way out of his situation. Not seeing one he decided he had not done anything wrong and that the young Roman had no reason to have any animosity towards him. "Yes, I am Drest, King of Picta."

Percy looked at him stunned, one of the guards who had escorted him here had stayed as he knew some of the Pictish language, but Drest had just spoken in perfect Latin. Then turned on him drawing his sword and stabbing him in the upper thigh. The Pict screamed in agony. "You killed my family, and you will be lucky to survive the day." At this point Zoe was watching, knowing what was going to happen, but unwilling to stop it. Artemis though, seeing what was happening and knowing the importance of the King, decided that he couldn't be killed.

Percy withdrew his sword from the Picts thigh and was about to gut him when he was tackled to the ground by Artemis. The two wrestled for a moment, but despite Percy's power and strength, Artemis was a goddess, and it didn't matter if he had the strength of 1,000 men, he was doomed to lose this encounter. Artemis after realizing that he wasn't going to stop fighting, punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious.

She stood up and turned to the Pictish King. "You are lucky Perseus didn't kill you, I would advise that you don't make any further... mistakes." And she exited the tent, stepping over Perseus' unconscious form without further thought towards him.

After Artemis left, Zoe started to help Percy from his unconscious state, when Aero came over to help as well. "Aero, don't, I can handle it." Aero made helpless gesture with his hands. "Zoe, we both have one thing in common at least, and that is Percy, we can at least put aside our... differences until he's better." That last part was with a pointed finger towards Percy. Zoe glared at him until she finally relented. He was right, at least this once, she would do it for Percy if anything, she knew that as strong as she was, she wouldn't be able to get him to his tent alone, at least not in the state he was in.

Aero bent over and scooped up Percy, and started towards the tent exit, Zoe, for her part opened the tent flap and directed Aero so he wouldn't trip and fall. Carrying Percy as he was, he couldn't see much in front of himself.

After a half an hour of stumbling and tripping, they finally got him to his tent and in his cot.

Percy had planned this well, he had known that he would lose it when the Pictish King entered the tent, and he had purposefully called for Zoe, and Artemis's presence, knowing that they would do exactly what they did. And Artemis hated him for it, he was too smart for his own good.

He had used her and she knew it, but, at the same time, she wondered why he had reacted the way he had, Zoe hadn't tried to kill him, then again, she hadn't tried to stop Percy either. Percy hadn't been Percy when the Pict entered the tent, he had completely lost it. He had been... almost angry at everyone.

She would have to confront him about it when he woke up, she decided.

**(A/N)- Sorry about the short chapter, next friday I'll post a 3k chapter, but I've been really busy this week and haven't had very many opportunities to write. Also, if you have a steam account go ahead and look for me on steam, my username is the same as here, just look for the one with the bass guitar avatar. And last, but not least, Anaklusmos14 is my Fanfiction hero, if you like my writing, its modeled to the best of my ability, to his work. Check out his Destinies series especially. And if you have Clash Of Clans on your phone or ipad, please join my clan 'Eagles Revenge' I'll be the leader of the clan, and if you mention that you saw it here and joined from here, then I'll give you Elder and the required donations are half for CO. Also, friend me on Steam, and I'll invite you to my Steam group for the clan.  
**

**F****idêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas**

**-RR**


	9. Chapter 7-- Meeting Caesar

Chapter 7- Meeting Caesar

**(A/N)- Hey guys, for those of you that play clash of clans, I have an update for you, please go and join the clan 'Eagles Equals' I discontinued my clan 'Eagles Revenge' after a few bad incidents and rejoined my mother clan (the clan Eagles Equals as I said). And now that that is done. I still have writers block for this story so this chapter isn't as long as promised, but until I break out of this writers block, please check out my one shot 'In The End, Not All People Are Created Equal'. Also, I'm still looking for a Beta-Reader, so if anyone is interested PM me. See you guys next week!**

**Fidêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas (Trust, Equality, Respect)**

**-RR**

Percy sat up, he was somewhere he had never been before. He was inside a traditional campaigning tent, the same one it seemed, that he had been using for years, yet at the same time, it didn't seem right. He stood up and walked towards the tents exit when his sixth sense told him to hide, he didn't question it, immediately finding a spot behind a large storage box, he had long since stopped questioning his sixth sense, it had saved him more time than he could count on his fingers.

Just after he had found his hiding spot the tent flap opened and in came a Consul. He could tell that the man was a Consul by the deep red cape that hung from his shoulders, and the medals he wore on a harness across his chest. The man was in his mid-fifties and starting to slow down, but he came from a hard culture, and a hard school. The other man, by contrast, looked very young, maybe in his late twenties, with tanned skin and dark hair.

The older one whispered something to the younger one, and the young, dark haired man left.

The older man turned to where Percy was hiding and said in perfect Latin. "You can come out now my friend, we are not so different Perseus." Percy was surprised, not only was the man a Consul, but he knew his name.

He came out of his hiding place and drew his sword. "Who are you?" The man stepped forward, raising his hands in a conciliatory manner. "I'm not going to hurt you, my name is Caesar."

By that point Percy almost dropped his sword. "You know of me then?" He said smiling vainly. Percy nodded numbly, he was in the presence of the greatest Consul that had ever stepped foot on the Earth. " What do you want, why am I here?"

"You're here because you need my help. Follow me." He turned and left the tent, Percy quickly following him.

The two of them walked through the camp side by side, Caesar was silent the whole time. When they got to the front gates the guards instantly recognized hi and opened the front gates.

Upon exiting the camp, the two Roman Officers turned towards a tall hill near the Roman lines.

At the top Caesar finally spoke. "What do you see here Perseus?" Percy looked around, he recognized the area, he was at the site of the Battle of Alesia, where Caesar, with 12 legions took on 300,000 Gauls and won. 12 legions barely amounted to 60,000 men. Then looking at the camp he noticed that the camp was like a large donut, with walls protecting the legion from the 250,000 odd Gaelic relief force and another set of walls keeping Vercingetorix and his Gaelic warriors bottled up inside the fortress city of Alesia.

"I see a siege camp with two walls." Caesar frowned. "Look again, this time, what do you not see?" After a few minutes, Percy's eyes widened. "There aren't many horses, your cavalry, where is it?" Caesar smiled. "You've heard the stories, you know exactly where they are. Now that that is done, come with me back to the tent."

Caesar led the way back to the tent they were in before, in complete silence, his facial expression changing occasionally to anger or smiling or even frowning as if the world was one big problem he had to solve.

Once they got back to the tent, Caesar motioned for Percy to stay in the main room as he went back to his private quarters. After a few minutes of waiting, and hearing some shuffling inside the other room, Caesar came out with a sheathed sword in his hand. "Here, take this, guard it with your life, Rome will fall, and the last of her legions will be slaughtered." Percy took the sword and examined it.

It was a simple fair, no adornments except a carving of Vesta, and a few other gods across the hilt, and one symbol that he didn't recognize, an archer with a long bow, it was obviously a godly symbol, it was stylized in the same way as all the others, but he had never seen it before. "How would this sword determine the survival of Rome?" Caesar smiled again. " That will be revealed shortly."

"One more question before I leave. What is that symbol, I've never seen it before." Caesar laughed like he knew something that Percy didn't. "That will be revealed in time as well." And with that Percy's dream shifted.

He was in the ruins of a giant castle, he could see the crumbling remains of seats, thrones, in a large semi-circle around him. Then he realized where he was, he was at Mount Othris, and the thrones were those of the Titans.

After this realization, he heard two voices talking. One he recognized as Sam, the other he hadn't heard before.

As he got closer to the two voices, he began to make out their conversation.

"I have the 15th legion holed up in their camp, my lord."

"Good, if they are unable to fight in the war against Olympus, victory is assured, what of the Pict King? Has he been found?"

"I regret to report that Drest has disappeared and has not returned, it is possible that he has fled like a coward." Samuel obviously held no love for the Pict, and he didn't bother to conceal it. "No, Picts may be imbeciles, but they are not cowards, find him." Sam bowed to an object that Percy could not see, then replied. "It will be done, my lord." And left.

As Percy moved forward to get a better look at the object that Sam had bowed to, he began to notice his movements slowing down. As he came into view, a lump slowly made itself evident in his throat.

Samuel had bowed to a coffin, a large gold coffin, with designs of clocks and of thrones and many other things, it radiated an aura that Percy had never felt before. It didn't just radiate raw power, it **was** power. This, was the coffin of Kronos, and Percy's worst fear had come true, his legion, had been drawn into another war, his legion, was the key to the survival of the world, and Percy hated it.


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8-

2 Days before the planned siege of Samuel.

"Percy!" Zoe kept shaking him, he had hardly slept in two days and it had taken its toll on him. She let out an exasperated sigh and said. "Oh screw it."

She grabbed the leading edge of the hammock that had since replaced his bed, and tipped it over. Sending a drowsy, and now angry, Percy sprawling onto the floor.

Percy, after discovering that Sam, his big brother, the person he had looked up to, had turned his life over to Kronos, had gone into a deep depression. They had to replace his bed with the hammock after he had smashed his campaigning cot into a bundle of broken sticks and ripped canvas.

Everyone had noticed the change immediately. His attitude hadn't changed, he was just more muted, he had less patience, and he was prone to locking himself inside his tent for hours at a time. He would tell the guards, that were always posted outside the ranking officers tent, to deny access to anyone, except in cases of emergency.

Eventually, Zoe had had enough of it, she wasn't going to let her brother slip into a depression because Sam had decided to do something stupid. And had pushed past the guards and entered the tent. Which had led to the current situation.

Percy stood up groaning. "Zoe? How did you..?" Before he could continue, she stepped forward and slapped him in the face. He toppled over, spinning with the force behind it. "Snap out of it Percy, you once told me you would do anything to protect your legion, well, prove it." He groaned again, standing up again as she finished her sentence. After a moment of fuming over her actions, he realized that she was right. He had to lead by example, and moping around in his room wasn't helping them get any closer to winning the war that was looming over them.

"Alright, get a war council together, I want the Senior Centurions, Yourself, and Artemis there. I need to think for a bit." As soon as she finished, she hugged him and smiled, leaving, knowing that her brother was back, and that Sam was in for a very nasty surprise.

At the Meeting-

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, time to get to work, we have a lot of planning to do and only a day and a half to do it. I suggest we split the legion into two groups, the first group will go to their positions later today, then the rest of the legion will go to their positions tomorrow. Artemis? Can you do a run today, or do your powers limit you?" She smiled, even she was happy to see the old Percy back, she had no idea that his brother had meant so much to him. "I'll manage, I'm tougher than I look."

Percy grinned. "Alexis? Get your cohorts ready, and assign your Centurions positions along the Southern hills, that way they won't see them until its too late and the rest of the force is in position. Aero? Get your cohorts ready by tomorrow evening, I want to move out as soon as the moon rises. Artemis, take your huntresses with you for protection, you will be pretty under powered after that first run and I don't need you to be captured."

"Percy I can take care of myself, I don't need anyone to do it for me, bessides, it'll be too many to teleport if I bring along my huntresses." She knew that he just wanted to protect her, but she also knew that she could protect herself. "Fine, if you won't take them, then you'll take me."

"Percy..." She started to decline, but Percy interrupted. "That's an order, you promised when you decided to stay that you would obey my orders, I know you're not a lier, don't prove me wrong." She hesitated for a moment, then just nodded. She didn't like it, but knew that her huntresses, and hundreds of legionaries would be slaughtered if she didn't perform her duties for one reason or another.

They were taking a huge risk doing this, splitting up their forces, even for the short time they were, was the cardinal sin of warfare. If they were caught, split up, those legionaries who were caught away from the camp would be slaughtered, and their current odds would be even worse.

Percy knew of the risks they were taking, but also remembered what his fathered had taught him.

Once, when he was young he had asked his father about the best way to win a fight. He had said. "You take risks." When Percy had responded with. "How do you know which risks to take?" His father had replied. "You wait and see who's won."

That advice, had guided him through more battles than he could count. Knowing that losing, in some situations, was inevitable, and that minimizing your loses was the best you could do. Winning didn't always mean conquering the battlefield, sometimes the most you could do was to work to spare your men.

He was willing to do whatever it took to succeed, he was back, and Sam was in big trouble.

**(A/N)- Sorry, my writers block persists, show lots of support you guys! It really helps me out. ****Besides that, I want to say, if you have Clash Of Clans, join my clan, Eagles Equals, look for my user name in the clan, and you'll know thats the right one, also, mention that you heard of the clan here, and you will get instant elder. Other than that, again, I'm sorry for the short chapter, its bugging me that I can't get you guys some longer chapters without sacrificing quality.**

**Fidêre, Aequalitas, Aequitas**

**(Trust, Equality, Respect)**

**-RR**


	11. Hiatus

Hiatus 


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